Student evaluation of teaching effectiveness: an unresolved dilemma

Content analysis techniques were used to analyse the criteria used for student evaluation of teaching effectiveness in college and university home economics programmes. Student evaluation forms were obtained from 29 state institutions representing 21 states. The evaluation forms varied in length from seven to 36 objective items. Most provided for flexibility. including such options as add-on items, open-ended response format, and choice of forms. The evaluation criteria fell into six categories: course organization and content, course requirements, evaluation procedures, student participation, teaching skills, and global value of course. All of the institutions included items related to teaching skills. This was also the most heavily weighted factor, accounting for nearly 40% of the total evaluation. This is a significant finding, given that many college and university faculty have limited opportunities to develop teaching skills prior to beginning an academic career. Home economics administrators might use the results of the study to design faculty development programmes to help both novice and experienced faculty acquire or improve the skills on which they are being evaluated.     

A New Look at Old Issues: Keynesian Unemployment Revisited

Economists have long sensed that the failure of goods markets to clear is a prime reason for the emergence of unemployment. The novel feature of this paper is that it discovers a new theoretical basis proving this assumption. The paper claims that in a permanently growing economy, unemployment may be due to the failure of the markets to provide consumers with ever‐new varieties of consumption goods. As the difference between desired and available product widens, effective demand declines, leading on the one hand to unemployment, which exhibits a decisive Keynesian flavour as it is the result of goods markets failures, and on the other hand to an increase in involuntary savings, which provide the financial basis to foster innovation and growth. As the higher growth rate increases the probability of failures in effective demand, it further increases unemployment and increases involuntary savings, resulting in a finite multiplier process.     

A Case for Managed Exchange Rates*

The incorporation of adaptive expectations by Dornbusch in a Mundell-Fleming model modifies significantly the traditional results of policy effectiveness in a small, open economy. While monetary policy is still able to influence aggregate demand when flexible exchange rates prevail, the effects of this policy on other important variables in the economy during the adjustment process to a new equilibrium may be considered sufficiently ‘disruptive’ so that the authorities will be hesitant to use their only fully-effective policy instrument for income-stabilization purposes. However, by adding a target level for the exchange rate to their list of goal variables and by using an appropriate mix of monetary and fiscal policies, it appears to be possible for the government to avoid these disruptive side effects.     

Long‐term changes in sickness and health: further evidence from the Hampshire Friendly Society1

This article presents new evidence on long‐term trends in sickness rates in England and Wales using data from the Hampshire Friendly Society. In previous work, Edwards, Gorsky, Harris, and Hinde argued that this Society contained a uniquely detailed set of records for the study of individual sickness histories. However, their initial findings were based on the records of a relatively small number of men who joined the Society at different points in time between 1871 and 1912. The current article draws on a much larger body of evidence, based on the records of over 5,500 men who joined between 1824 and 1939. It examines trends in the seasonality of sickness episodes, changes in the relationship between sickness and age, and cause‐specific sickness rates. The results indicate that there was little change in age‐specific morbidity rates over time, but morbidity did increase with age, mainly because older men remained off work for longer, even when they succumbed to the same conditions as men in younger age groups.     

THE EFFECT OF PROJECT RISK ON CAPITAL RATIONING UNDER UNCERTAINTY

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of project risk on capital rationing with uncertain budgetary constraints. We reflect project risk by the standard deviation of cash flows. The problem is formulated in a stochastic linear programming with simple recourse (SLPSR) framework. In a sample problem, we vary the level of project risk and allow the probability distribution for the right-hand side constraints to be either symmetric or left skewed. We demonstrate that SLPSR yields superior solutions to an equivalent deterministic formulation and that risk aside, the borrowing rate is an important factor in determining the optimal solution vector. Moreover, we show that low project risk can compensate for higher borrowing costs and that the presence or absence of probability distribution asymmetry may not be an important issue.     

Asset Substitution and Aggregate Liquidity in Australia: 1969–1983*

This paper has two goals. The first goal is to examine the degree of substitutability between various bank and non-bank assets and a reference asset using A ustralian quarterly data for the sample period 1969(4)-1983(2). Particular attention is directed towards quantifying the degree of liquidity of financial innovations introduced recently into the A ustralian financial sector. The second goal is to construct a weighted monetary aggregate series derived. explicitly from microeconomic consumer demand theory. While both the bank innovations and building society deposits are close substitutes for currency, the aggregation restrictions implicit in the Australian monetary aggregates beyond Ml are violated.